Five people including a child were injured after they plunged on to a mountain side from a derailed cable car at a tourist resort yesterday.

Two gondolas are thought to have collided at the Nevis Range resort near Fort William in the Highlands.

The accident happened at 3.30pm and mountain rescue teams were working with rescue helicopters to remove casualties from the scene.

Police said the five were being taken to Belford Hospital in Fort William and R aigmore Hospital in Inverness.

The cable car transports passengers from 300ft up to 2,150ft on the north face of Aonach Mor.

The system was at a standstill, trapping other people in stationary cars, while the rescue was carried out.

A Scottish Ambulance Service spokesman said a number of people had fallen out of the cable car on to a hillside.

Police said it was not known if the cable cars were on the same track or travelling in opposite directions.

They said three adults had been confirmed injured and one child was also thought to have been hurt.

RAF spokesman Mike Mul-ford said: "The reports we are responding to suggest two gondolas, or cars, have collided and a number of people have been injured.

"It looks as though several people have been thrown out of the cars, at what height I don't know.

"This site is a major part of the ski scene in Scotland and at this time of year it is very much a tourist place and one would imagine you're going to find that these are tourists.

"We have a Navy helicopter, an RAF helicopter and the air ambulance. We are ferrying mountain rescue teams up to the site and ferrying medical staff and the two main hospitals in the area are on standby.

"First reports suggest several broken legs, head injuries, chest injuries, so in anyone's language potentially this is turning into quite a serious incident."

He added: "We are talking about up to 4,000ft up so the wind is a clear possibility as a factor.

"It will be a factor in flying in there and it may, and I stress may, have been a factor in the collision between the gondolas, which in my experience is simply unknown."